Sunday, 15 September 2013

Reselling for profit has always been a somewhat controversial topic. People want to get a good deal and can become upset if they find out that they're paying more for an item than the seller originally bought it for. Regardless of the feelings involved, profit and loss are present in every market, and the lolita community is no exception. If you are planning to resell for profit, expect dead stock (stock that cannot be sold, so you're stuck with it) and if you buy based on what you think might sell instead of items which you personally like, it can become a source of pure loss (you paid out to buy it, but can't sell off and it is worth nothing to you personally). That said, if you're new at it, or don't plan to do much reselling, buy based on your own interests. Ideally, these items would be ones you have a personal interest in and wouldn't mind keeping if you can't sell them. This way, even in the worst case scenario, you would still get some personal enjoyment out of it.

The key to building a brand wardrobe on a budget is to bid low and bid frequently. To do so effectively, you'll need to spend a fair bit of time browsing through listings to find the best items with low starting bids.

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Lastly, an overview of Canada Post's (CP) services. This is
primarily written for Canadian sellers; however, it might be of interest
of anyone who may need to ship to a Canadian address and is looking for
some insight into how our system works to deliver packages once within
our borders.

CP's shipping prices are largely tier
based. Sometimes, there are fluctuation of prices within each tier, but it is a
very slight fluctuation considering the large jump from one tier to the
next.

Sunday, 27 January 2013

This is written as a guideline for new sellers to work from. Every seller has their own preferred method of doing business and the only way to find your own way, is to try it out. Keep in mind though that with shipping, it's better to be safe than be sorry, so if you're unsure about a policy you want to include in your terms of service (ToS), go ahead and include it. If you later feel that it's unnecessary and might be scaring away potential buyers, you can always remove it on future posts.

There are three main options when shopping for lolita clothing (although this applies to many other Japanese collectibles or limited releases), Japanese auction sites, Japanese stores (physical and online) and resale sites (ie EGL Sales Comm, Closet Child, etc).

Saturday, 5 January 2013

Most well known lolita brands have websites in with English options
or descriptions now. If you are looking at a specific item, try to find
the sizing information using database sites like Hello Lace or
Lolibrary. You can also search customer to customer resale sites like EGL Sales Comm to find measurements taken by individual owners. These
are sometimes inaccurate due to the amateur nature of the measurement
taker; however, personal testimony of these owners can often provide
invaluable insight into the fit of the item on different body sizes and
shapes. Sometimes, official brand measurements will be inaccurate to
some degree. This is often as a result of tight shirring or not
accounting for ease of fit (aka whether or not you'll be able to breath
or bend over). If customer testimonial and measurements are relatively
consistent with each other, but also consistently different from the
official measurements, it is often more trustworthy to rely on customer
measurements as it can be a case of the item "running small".

Whether or not your package gets hit with duty and taxes largely depends on the amount you've purchased and the country you
live in, but in some countries, duty can be a hefty addition to the
final cost. In this case, it's important to check with your shopping
service (SS) whether they ship packages as "gift" or "merchandise" and
whether or not there is the option of marking down the declared value
for customs.

Unless you are lucky enough to have friends or family in Japan who are willing let you bid with their account as well as play parcel forwarding service, you will have to find a shopping service.

Shopping services are businesses (either run by a single person or a whole office of people) that will bid on auctions on behalf of their customers. Most will act as a proxy for online and physical store purchases as well. There are some who will only make purchases from stores, not auction sites, so be careful to pick one that specifies that they will bid on auction sites if that is where you intend to shop.

Thursday, 3 January 2013

I've been wearing lolita for 9 years. I've been through all the phases from looking completely ita to lace monsters (believe it or not, this was a happening trend at one point) to wanting the latest print, etc. However, throughout all this, I've always been frugal with my purchases. I've learned a lot over the years, from my personal
experiences and advice I've received along the way. I'm keeping this blog in hopes that some of my knowledge will benefit other
lolitas or any other online shoppers of Japanese goods who may find their way here.

My frugality started out as a necessity since I was attending school full-time while living away from home and money was always short. This turned into a habit and I found myself enjoying the hunt for good deals even after graduation and finding a good job. Now a day, it's both an excuse and a means to support my love of shopping.

I'm also a big fan of financial management and like to micromanage my personal finances a lot, so you may see snippets alluding to that as well.

If you have some input or tips to share, please don't hesitate to comment. I love learning new ways to save a few dollars.

About Me

I've been wearing lolita since 2004 and this is my frugal lolita shopping blog. I'm a mod for the EGL Comm Sales on Livejournal and a self-proclaimed cheap-ass shopaholic. Join me as I attempt to fill my closet with brand while recording my obsession along the way. Beware, TL;DR and random math ahead.